


What Was Ours Still Will Be

by borrowedthemoonlite



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Love Letters, To All The Boys I've Loved Before AU, jade cat and trina are best friends in this universe :), non-hollywood arts AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25265533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borrowedthemoonlite/pseuds/borrowedthemoonlite
Summary: The letters are out.  The letters from a simpler time of Jade’s childhood when love seemed more plausible.  They were never meant to see the light of day, but somehow, they’ve been delivered, and suddenly Jade finds herself in a world of trouble.Until Beck Oliver comes up with a plan that could maybe save both of their asses.But what happens when the lines get blurred and the pretend becomes a little too real?(or the TATBILB/Fake Dating AU that no one asked for)
Relationships: Beck Oliver/Jade West
Comments: 14
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ayyyy! What's up gang, she's back for a new story. So I'm a sucker for To All The Boys I've Loved Before, both the movie and the books, and I couldn't stop wondering what it would be like if Beck and Jade were in this situation, so here's this! Enjoy my dudes, I'm glad to be back with another long fic.

The first week of a new school year was never easy and as Jade had learned, this held true for her Junior Year of high school too. Junior Year was shaping up to be mediocre at best, which wasn’t uncharacteristic for school, but Jade felt that the end of the Summer deserved more. Ready to get back home as soon as possible, Jade waited in her car impatiently, tapping her fingers across the steering wheel. _Hurry up already,_ she thought, groaning out loud.

As if on cue, Cat opened the passenger side door and dropped into the seat.

“Hi, Jadey!” She chimed in greeting. 

“Yeah, hi,” Jade replied. “Where the hell is Trina, is she not with you?”

“No, but don’t worry, she’s coming! I saw her talking to Gwen in the hallway.”

Jade groaned once again, burying her head in her hands rested on the steering wheel. She was used to waiting for the other two before starting the drive home, but today had been completely draining and she was ready to leave already. Of course, none of this would be an issue if Cat would _hurry up and finally get her license_ or if Trina would just agree to drive in shifts, but until then, Jade was stuck driving everyone home.

“Oh my _god!_ You guys’ll _never_ guess what I just found out,” the car door opened abruptly as Trina practically threw herself into the backseat.

“It better be worth it. You’re late, I wanna go home already,” Jade snapped impatiently, starting up the car.

“Do you want the story or not?” Trina scoffed, “And before you say no, I _know_ that you’re both just as invested in drama as much as I am. No matter how much you try to say that you’re not, Jade.”

“Wait, I wanna know! Tell me!” Cat craned her neck, leaning over to peer at the back seat.

“Thank you, Cat!” Trina replied triumphantly, “You guys heard about my sister and Andre, yeah?”

Recently, the fourth member, technically ex-member, of the Totally-Bullshit “carpool”, Tori Vega, had been accepted into some prestigious performing arts school in Beverly Hills and had made the decision to leave E.J. Marion this school year and transfer, effectively saving Jade the exhaustion of having another person in the car. But Tori hadn’t left _just_ E.J. Marion behind, she had left Andre, her boyfriend, correction, her now _ex-_ boyfriend, behind as well. 

The split had shocked everyone as the two had seemed solid, but Tori had realized that not seeing Andre every day would be straining to their relationship and broke it off about a month before the end of summer. Jade actually felt bad for Andre, but it had been years since they had spoken, so she never talked to him about it.

“Yeah, we know.” Jade huffed, pulling out of her parking spot, “Is there a point to this story?”

“ _Yes,_ a very dramatic and shocking point if you would just let me get to it,” Trina answered in annoyance, pausing dramatically as if she was trying to teach Jade a lesson about interrupting, “It turns out, my dear sister is not the _only_ one ending a long term relationship!”

“We’ve only been back for a _week,_ people are falling apart already?” Jade snorted, “What, did we get some hot new student that everyone’s dying to get a chance at?”

“Ooh, who was it this time?!” Cat asked, “Let me guess! Uh, Julia and Chris? No! Sophie and Aaron, they’ve been looking _pretty bad_ lately.”

“No, not even close! You’ll literally never guess, it blindsided all of us!” Trina all but screamed, pausing for effect, “Beck and Hayley are officially over! For real this time!”

And just as quickly as Jade had started the car, she slammed on the brakes. “What?” She asked quietly, struggling to keep her voice even.

Trina gave her a confused look, cautiously continuing the story, “Yeah… Apparently she was cheating on him with some college guy. He found out and ended it.”

“What?! When?” Cat asked, mouth hanging open.

“Just last night!” Trina snapped back into story-telling mode and began rambling, “That’s how everyone found out, Hayley took the bus this morning instead of getting a ride with Beck, and I was like ‘Huh, weird, but maybe Beck had to get to school early.’ But _then,_ according to Gwen, they weren’t sitting with each other at lunch, but I wasn’t paying attention to them then so I didn’t notice. _So then,_ Olivia and Drew went up to him after the bell rang and asked him. And of course he told them the truth because his whole thing is transparency, you know, the whole ‘I have no secrets’ thing he does?”

Beck Oliver and Hayley Ferguson had practically been an institution at E.J. Marion, the mere prospect of them breaking up was enough to make _anyone_ step on the brakes as hard as Jade had. The two had always been connected at the hip, practically waltzing into freshman year like they owned the place. And in a way they did. Or at least, they were the people who entered high school with a collected ease, never looking out of place or unsure of themselves.

And just like she had been friends with Andre, Jade had once been friends with Beck. Back in middle school, when life was easy but their brains had deluded them into thinking that everything was end-all be-all, they were _all_ friends. Her, Cat, Trina (friends was a strong word), Tori (because if Trina was there, Tori would be too), Robbie (who she hasn’t talked to in forever, he had always been a little scared of her), Andre, and of course, Beck. But things were different once they got to high school. It was like the winds changed that summer, tearing them apart from each other.

“Ooh, that’s rough…” Cat replied, sucking in a sharp breath.

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Trina laughed slightly. “Jade, ya gonna keep driving, or?”

Right.

“Shut up, you can start talking when _you’re_ the one behind the wheel,” Jade quickly retorted and rolled her eyes, starting the drive back up.

The recent breakup made Jade consider reaching out and talking to Beck. But she hadn’t spoken to him since September of Freshman Year, they were completely different people by now. Who knew if he’d even want to see her? For all she knew, he was doing completely fine without her. Hell, he had even been the one to end things with Hayley. So, she pushed the notion to the side, into an abandoned corner of her mind, and continued driving.

* * *

Somehow, the other two had convinced Jade to hang out at her place. She shouldn’t have let them, but she was too tired to argue, which is how the three ended up in her room, Cat looking at Jade’s drawer of scissors in awe while Trina rifled through Jade’s closet, picking out random pieces and asking Jade to borrow them (to which the answer was always no.)

At one point, Trina got tired of browsing through the same pieces in Jade’s closet for a third time, and decided to switch places with Cat, rifling through Jade’s desk.

“You know, when you guys convinced me to hang out here, you promised that I wouldn’t even know you were here… Weird, ‘cause you guys have been ransacking my room for almost three hours.”

“Take it as a compliment, it means you have cool stuff!” Cat sang from in front of Jade’s mirror, trying on Jade’s blue jacket.

“This is why I hate hanging out with both of you,” she groaned, collapsing back into hre bed. “You exhaust me.”

“Hey, Jade…” Trina said absent-mindedly, “What are these..?”

Trina held up a hand, brandishing a stack of envelopes, confusion apparent in her eyes.

Immediately, Jade lept from her spot on her bed, lunging towards Trina in an attempt to snatch them out of her grasp before she realized just exactly what they were. Unfortunately, Trina rose out of her chair, raising her hand high above her head. Jade was screwed, Trina had always been significantly taller than her.

“Trina, give them back _now_ or I’ll get my scissors and chop a good five inches off your hair.” Jade warned threateningly.

Seeing the state that Jade was in, Trina suddenly developed a weird sense of authority, a dangerous look growing in her eyes, “Why? What exactly are these?”

“It doesn’t matter, they’re nothing!” Jade attempted a jump in order to grab them, but Trina just stretched further out of reach.

“Hm, doesn’t look like nothing to me,” Trina shrugged, tilting the pile to read, “What are these, why are they so important, and _why_ are… Andre, Brayden, Antonio, and Beck the only ones who get to find out?”

Jade felt her cheeks uncharacteristically begin to color.

“I told you, they’re nothing.” She sighed.

“ _Nothing?_ I dunno, seems kinda exclusive to me… Oh my god, are you having a party without me and Cat?” Trina gave her a betrayed look as Cat gasped, joining them at the desk.

“No!” Jade yelled in irritation, rubbing one of her temples. “Look, if I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.” She sighed dejectedly, “Do I have a promise from both of you?”

After both Cat and Trina nodded and after Jade turned down Cat’s insistence for a pinky promise, she decided to get it over with in order to stop them from finding out themselves.

“It’s stupid, I’m telling you,” Jade rolled her eyes as the other two watched her anxiously. “Back in middle school I may or may not have written letters to some guys that I liked. But that’s all irrelevant now and it doesn’t matter anymore!”

Cat gasped once again, giving Jade an overly excited look, “Jade, you never told me! That’s so romantic!”

Jade rolled her eyes in response, “It is _not._ I told you- I wrote them in _middle school,_ I had no idea what I was talking about back then, I was an emotional, hormonal mess and I regret every single thing that’s in those envelopes!”

To be fair, Jade hadn’t actually read them since the summer before Sophomore year, so she wasn’t really sure what was in them anymore, but she remembered writing them back before everything sorta turned to shit. Just as everyone she wrote letters to had changed since then, Jade had as well, and the girl from long ago who wrote those letters simply wasn’t her anymore.

“Damn… Andre _and_ Beck.” Trina read, eyebrows raised in surprise, “Don’t think I’ve seen you talk to either of them in ages…”

“Yeah, because I _wrote_ them ages ago!” Jade snapped, running a hand through her hair. “Guys, I’m telling you. They’re not a big deal.”

“Okay but what about the other two? Brayden and Antonio..? I don’t think I know them.” Cat asked, tilting her head.

Jade let out a short laugh that sounded almost bitter. Only almost though.

“Antonio’s that one guy I told you guys about, back in Massachusetts. I liked him once in seventh grade.”

“Wait-” Cat gasped, jumping up and grabbing an envelope from Trina’s hand. “Is this _Brayden Wintour_ , like, from middle school?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Jade sighed exasperatedly, “Because as I have _already established,_ I wrote them in middle school.”

“Ew, you had a thing for him?” Trina all but snorted, two seconds away from breaking into hysterical laughter.

“Shut up, I was like eleven.” Jade deadpanned.

“Everyone in our grade had a crush on Brayden Wintour.” Cat admitted, shurgging, “You wouldn’t get it though, Trina. You weren’t in our class.”

Jade’s ‘crush’ (if it could even be called that) on Brayden Wintour was wildly short lived. Granted, she was eleven, most infatuations back then would come and go in about a week’s time. But for that brief week, Jade’s eleven-year-old brain was consumed by said crush just enough for her to decide that writing him a letter was a good idea. To be fair, writing the letters made it easier to get over things. They were less of a love letter, more of a conclusion to a story.

Not that it mattered much in the eyes of Trina and Cat.

“Will you put those back already?” Jade snapped, “You’ve already seen them and I’ve explained myself. This discussion is over.”

“Ugh, fine. You’re no fun,” Trina huffed, tossing the pile of envelopes back on Jade’s desk.

“Now can we finally move on from this? Because I’d really rather we move past this quickly and never touch it again.”

Cat had already moved on and had gone back to posing in front of Jade’s mirror as she dangled a sweater in front of herself. Good. It was behind them then.

“Jade, do you think your mom would let us sleep over?” Cat asked, not taking her eyes off of the next bunch of clothes she wanted to try on next.

“Ooh! Yes! Can we?” Trina jumped onto Jade’s bed, eyes wide in a slightly manic looking state. “I _really_ don’t want to have to hear Tori talk about her new school and I just know that it’s all our parents are gonna talk about.”

“And I think my parents get home late tonight,” Cat frowned slightly, “My brother’s going to this new doctor, it’s like a two hour drive and it gets boring at home.”

“If I let you guys sleep over do you promise to put back all this shit before you go home in the morning?” Jade raised a brow, peering over the edge of her bed at the piles of her clothes rolled up and placed on the floor. Cat and Trina agreed, if not a little hesitantly, but a yes was still a yes, and Jade felt slightly bad for the two of them so she said, “Then yes.”

* * *

The last time Jade had ever slept over with Cat and Trina was the day after eighth grade graduation at Andre’s house. Technically, Trina had finished her first year of high school, and therefore didn’t qualify for the Post-Eighth-Grade sleepover, but none of them had really thought of it beforehand and they’d spent enough time with Trina to be more than used to her antics. So, that night, they had all bunched their sleeping bags together in the basement (the basement was always the coldest spot in the house, and it would’ve been too hot to stay upstairs) and while none of them got that much sleep that night, staying up until 5 am, at the time it was one of the greatest nights of their lives.

Turned out that sleeping in the same room as Cat and Trina wasn’t as easy as Jade remembered. Maybe it was because she had Andre, Tori, and Beck to balance them out back then, or maybe she was just a softer person back in eighth grade. But either way, this time was nothing like then.

“Oh my god, just go to sleep already.” Jade groaned, staring up at her ceiling in the pitch darkness of midnight.

“Yeah, in like a half hour,” Trina replied impatiently, “this is an important conversation!”  
  
It really wasn’t.

“I can’t believe Beck and Hayley are done.” Cat sighed, her voice breaking through the dark. “I can’t even remember when they started dating, it feels like they’ve always been like that.”

Jade remembered though. Of course she did. How could she? She’d always remember the day she lost her best friend. To that day she still wasn’t completely sure how it had exactly happened, but what she _did_ know was that one day, her and Beck were best friends, then one day he was maybe more. Then she went to Massachusetts for a month over the summer to stay with her aunt, and when she came back, Hayley and Beck were attached at the hip, as if they had always been. And she couldn’t be angry, it wasn’t like she and Beck had ever dated and she had only realized her feelings (if there were any) that summer. So she wrote him a letter that he would never see and shoved it into the recesses of her desk drawer.

And sure, at first Beck had tried to bring Hayley into the group. It wasn’t like he had decided to ice them out or anything. But Hayley hadn’t seemed to like them very much, and that was only amplified once Jade had returned from Massachusetts and she had spent more than an hour in the treehouse in the Olivers’ backyard filling Beck in on all the stories he had missed while she was away and vice versa. Since then, Hayley’s less than fondness for the group became painfully obvious. And no, it wasn’t like Jade _did_ anything to sabotage Hayley and Beck’s chances. Surprisingly, she tried her best to be supportive of the relationship. Although Jade refused to compromise their friendship, she wouldn’t change a single aspect of whatever it was she and Beck already had, no matter how much Hayley wanted her to.

Beck was determined to make it work somehow and swore backwards and upside down that if they just gave Hayley more time she’d warm up to them. But Jade had always been the realist between the two. She knew it wouldn’t work, that it would never go back to being the same, that Hayley was too insecure over Jade’s friendship with Beck to ever really trust Jade. So, Jade did the smart thing to do. She simply annexed herself from them, a quick and easy decision with a quick and easy execution. Shortly after, the group slowly began disbanding, the shift was too obvious, too _different_ for things to ever be the same.

And sure, maybe she had been too impulsive in that decision, but so far, Jade was doing fine for herself so there was no cause to regret a single thing.

Things happened for a reason and if Jade hadn’t ended the friendship back then, it would’ve ended for other reasons.

Really. It was just the logical thing to do. So, whatever thoughts Beck Oliver’s recent breakup with one Hayley Ferguson had stirred up were dismissed almost as quickly as they had entered Jade’s mind. She was just shocked by the breakup, that was it. She’d be over it by the time the next week of school started.

In fact, by the time Jade woke up on Saturday morning, Cat and Trina had come up with the idea to go get breakfast at one of the diners across town and the initial annoyance that came with having to drive them for a half hour at 8 am on a Saturday was enough to distract Jade from the ailments that had plagued her the night before.

“So what’s the plan for today? You guys wanna go back to my place?” Jade asked as they finished settling the bill.

“Uh, actually… Can you drop us off at school?” Cat asked, “You don’t have to stay, we can get a ride home.”

Trina nodded, looking expectantly at Jade.

“What? Why are you guys going to school on a _Saturday_? They’re not even holding detentions this week.” Jade snorted, crossing her arms.

Cat and Trina quickly turned to look at each other in a brief moment of panic, eyes widening only a fraction of a centimeter but not escaping Jade’s notice.

“I promised Ms. Peterson I would help build sets for the fall musical, so…” Trina quickly composed herself, barely stumbling over her explanation.

“As Junior class president, I have to help plan all the upcoming events,” Cat supplied. “We have a kickback in three weeks and the first meeting’s today.”

As much as Jade knew something suspicious was going on, the two had mentioned these events earlier in the week. There technically weren’t any holes in their stories, nothing she could object to.

“Okay…” She ceded, “If you say so.”

Despite the completely suspicious circumstances, Jade still drove the two to school. On a Saturday. For whatever the hell they needed to do.

* * *

If Saturday’s breakfast had distracted Jade from the hellish events of that week, they were completely gone from her mind by the next Monday. Thankfully, the drive to school that morning hadn’t been all too bad as Cat and Trina had been seemingly quieted by their own early morning exhaustion.

They had always liked getting to school early, at least a half hour before homeroom started when the hallways and classrooms were more empty than they would ever be throughout the school day. They were never the first ones in the building but still early enough to watch the waves of people filter in as it drew closer to homeroom.

Jade sat in the alcove by the vending machines, staring out the window as Cat (who had recently livened up) rhapsodized enthusiastically about something that Jade was only distantly listening to.

“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” They heard from behind them. Jade turned her head to find the source of interruption to find Beck standing at the edge of the alcove.

“Me or her?” Cat asked.

“Jade.”

Jade crossed her arms, brows raised in surprise. “I’m listening.”

“I kinda meant in private…” Beck’s eyes flashed over to Cat.

“Kay kay, see you in a bit!” Cat chimed, getting up from her seat, Beck taking her place.

Jade stared at him with an imploring gaze that read _Well?_

“Look. I’m sorry for being too nice.” He said in a low voice.

What the fuck?

“What the hell are you talking about, Beck?” She asked harsher than she meant to.

“Also, I’m sorry that I do that thing with my hair, it’s a subconscious thing.”

“I haven’t said anything to you!” She exclaimed, outrage slowly building, “Did you really kick Cat out of here _just_ to talk about yourself? You know, you really have changed since-”

“That’s what you said in your letter, isn’t it? That I’m weak and play with my hair too much?”

“ _Letter?_ I didn’t write _shit_ and even if I had, it wouldn’t be for you. Why would I write to someone I don’t talk to?”

Well, wait. Technically, yes she had written him a letter, like, a lifetime ago. But there was no way he would know of its existence.

“Yeah. You did, though. It had _my_ name on it, _you_ signed off on it.” He dug into his back pocket, pulling out the envelope she had addressed over two years ago, giving her a pointed look.

No.

There was no way. Absolutely no fucking way this was happening.

She stared at the paper in his hand in abject horror, frozen in her spot, unable to say a word.

“Jade?”  
  
“How did you get that?” She demanded, two seconds away from pulling him up by his shirt.

“It was in my locker this morning…” He said, clearly confused by her reaction.

“Your locker? Like someone put it in there. You didn’t find it?”

“Yeah.”

Her heart quickened as she scrambled to pull something together.

“You should know, I wrote that letter a long time ago.”  
  
“Okay.” He still looked like he didn’t believe her completely.

“No, I mean it. Like _years_ ago. As in _middle school_. I don’t know how that got to you, you were never supposed to see it. Give it back.” She reached for it just as he pulled his hand back.

He grinned at her, gave her a look of consideration before saying, “I kinda want to keep it, I’ve never had someone write me a love letter before.”

“I’m not kidding, Beck!” She lunged for it, grabbing his wrist in an attempt to pull it back.

“All right, all right! You can have it back!”

She grabbed it from his hand, examining it. It was, in fact, the same letter from Middle School Jade, written in the haze of pre-teen angst and all its glory. “I’m keeping this.”

“Also. Definitely did _not_ mean to ‘replace you’, I-”

She cut him off with a loud, hysterical laugh that sounded way too fake, even from her.

“Okay I think that’s enough, message received! Bye, Beck!” She said forcefully, lightly shoving him out of the alcove.

Holy _fuck_ , what the hell just happened? Forcing herself to even out her breaths, she sunk back down in her seat

Well. There was nothing left to lose.

Through shaking hands, she opened the letter.

_‘Dear Beck,_

_‘First things first, I will not be calling you Oliver, no matter what everyone else says. What are you, an old englishman? I don’t think so. You’ve always been just Beck to me and that’s how you’ll stay. No matter how cool last names might be._

_‘Second of all, what the hell dude? I go to Massachusetts for_ one month _and I come back and you’ve replaced me? I know that you don’t think you replaced me, but trust me, in a few months you’ll see. You might think that it’s not the same, because Hayley’s your girlfriend and I’m your best friend. But she doesn’t think so and she definitely has it out for me. If I die, it’s because she got to me._

_‘And you know what? It’s unfair. It really is. You never even gave me the chance to figure out how I felt. And you know what’s even more unfair? That it took stupid Hayley Ferguson for me to realize this._

_‘Did you know? Did you know it was going to make me jealous? Because if you did, that’s just_ _cruel_ _, Beck. It’s cruel. But you probably didn’t even realize because everyone just automatically loves you. As they should. But it’s so unfair. All these years, every single girl in our class had this huge crush on you and every time I was like, “I don’t get it, it’s just Beck.” But now look at me. It’s stupid. It really is._

_‘But since you have a girlfriend, I can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to either of us. So, here are all the worst things about you to help me get over this:_

_‘1. You’re too nice. It’s true, you are. I would kill for you to be mean just once. I mean, what harm could come from you telling Trina to shut up? She’d recover. I know you’re just a nice person, but sometimes you come off as weak. I can’t have a weak best friend. That’s just not how I roll._

_‘2. You run your hand through your hair too much. We get it, you like your hair. Well, I like your hair too, but that’s why you have to stop._

_‘3. Your parents never let us sleep over. We always have to have sleepovers at Andre’s or Trina’s. I guess having a bunch of siblings isn’t really your fault, but you could at least try to force your parents._

_‘4. You stole my first kiss. Technically it was spin the bottle and I agreed to play, but given the circumstances, now I’m mad._

_‘Anyway, I’m never going to tell you that I like you, because at this point, it’s useless. This letter is to get over it, not to make things worse. But even though this is the end, you’re still a good guy, Beck Oliver. Because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be my best friend. I like how you’re always looking out for people. You ever notice that people stopped picking on Robbie once you started defending him? I also like how chill you are. It’s calming. I like how you were always there for me. After my parents’ divorce you stuck with me and made sure I was okay. You never got judgy or anything, you were just Beck. I like how good you are with your sisters, I’m not as good of an older sibling as you. But in my defense, Julien is nothing like Sophie and Taylor._

_‘But now that this letter is over and we’re almost in high school, I’m almost positive that I’m over it already. All the high school girls are going to be completely in love with you because they always are, but I’ll just be here because I’m immune now._

_\-- Jade Emmeline Ripley West’_

_Oh my god_ , Jade thought as she concluded reading the letter. What the hell had 13 year old Jade been on?

But more importantly. If Beck Oliver had gotten his letter, what about the others? Surely he wasn’t the only one…

Seeing red, Jade stormed out of the alcove and through the hallway, bursting into a classroom where a startled Trina and Cat were sitting.

Holding up the letter with a strong glare, Jade spoke, forcing her voice to stay steady, “So. You two have anything you want to tell me?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Look, Jade, we can explain! It’s not what it looks like!” Trina jerked out of her chair, standing readily at defense.

“Oh, so you’re saying that you  _ didn’t  _ take my letters after I told you not to touch them and give them to the people they’re addressed to?”

“Haha, turns out it  _ is _ exactly what it looks like… That’s so crazy.” Cat laughed nervously.

“See, I knew I shouldn’t have told you about them.” Jade huffed, “Now I have  _ four _ disasters to deal with and it’s all your fault.”

“If it makes you feel better, we technically never sent out Antonio’s because we don’t know where he lives…” Trina said quietly.

“Okay, and? Three disasters isn’t much better. Andre got dumped less than a month ago and Beck broke up with Hayley not even a  _ week _ ago, do you have any idea how  _ bad  _ that looks?”

“Well Shane told me that Brayden’s out sick today! So he won’t see it today!” Cat added brightly.

Jade paused, the anger dissipating from her face in the blink of an eye, “Wait.” She said, her voice dangerously low, “Brayden’s not in today?”

“Dude!” Trina nudged Cat quickly, giving her an offended look, “You weren’t supposed to tell her that! What if Brayden liked her back?”

“So he really isn’t here then?” Jade asked, brow raised. “I gotta go real quick, see you guys later.”   


She bolted out of the room, storming down the hall, a plan forming in her head. Quickly tracking down Shane Pike in the hallways, she asked, demanded rather, for Brayden’s locker number.

Once said locker number was retrieved, Jade walked into the main office.

“I forgot my locker combo.” She announced to the lady at the desk.

“Locker number?” Ms. Johnson asked, not even looking up at Jade. Thankfully, it was still early on in the school year and in the few days they’d been back, dozens of people had forgotten their combinations.

“136.”

And without as much as a questioning look, Jade had the combination to Brayden Wintour’s locker.

She wasn’t going to mess with his things or anything, he wouldn’t even know that she had been in there. But she was getting her damn letter back if it was the last thing she did.

A look of determination sat on her face, Jade crouched in front of Brayden’s locker, putting in the combination to his locker. The door swung open with a startle and a rattling noise to reveal the letter sitting at the bottom.

She grabbed the envelope, pulling it close to her chest and letting out a sigh of relief.

Oh thank god. She had it. The letter was safe. He would never see it, he would never know. She was safe from this one.

By then, most people had begun arriving at school and the hallways had started filling. That was normally the sign for Jade to get going to homeroom, so with a slam of Brayden’s locker door, she made her way through the halls.

* * *

“Jade, we’re  _ sorry! _ ” Cat hissed from her desk, turning around to look at Jade.

Jade rolled her eyes. She knew she’d still end up driving the other two home after school but she could afford to hold a grudge right now. Besides, a casual icing out never hurt anyone.

“It was all Trina’s idea!” Cat added with a pleading look over her shoulder, “But if she asks, please don’t tell her I ratted her out.”

The in-room speakers crackled as Pepper Meadowes concluded the morning announcements and Jade stormed out of the room, brushing past Cat without so much as a look back.

Whatever anger Jade had at the moment could be drowned out by English class. She knew there was nothing she could about it now, but if she tried hard enough, she could die mad. After all, why forget when you could just hold a grudge forever?

Despite her determination to distract herself with their class’s unit on the musings of Bronte, her mind kept wandering and she found herself only furthering her frustration, her anger brewing the more time went on. Plus, it didn’t help that every few minutes or so, Beck Oliver would look over at her, only adding to the foreboding feeling of dread overwhelming her. First period wasn’t even over and it was already one of the worst days of her life.

It took a lot to embarrass Jade West, but Cat and Trina may have done it.

Seeing as first period did nothing to ease her mind, Jade was uncharacteristically happy to get to Pre-Calc. Neither Cat, nor Beck, nor Trina, nor Andre were in her stupid math class. Absolutely nothing could ruin the next 40 minutes and she intended to keep it that way.

Thankfully, the day considerably picked up starting second period and the rest of the school day had gone by without a hitch. Jade could almost forget about the slight blunder from the early morning. Only almost though.

The moment Jade left her last class, she was ambushed by Trina and Cat who were once again, spouting apologies. 

“Jade, I don’t know what else you want us to do! We already said we’re sorry.” Trina sighed.

“That’s not the issue. I don’t want you to  _ do _ anything, it’s that you  _ did  _ something. Something I  _ specifically _ told you not to do.”

“Are you gonna be mad at us forever?” Cat asked worriedly.

“Maybe. But I’ll be even more mad if you make me wait in the car so you better get your shit together ‘cause I’m leaving without you after five minutes.” She called over her shoulder.

She flung her locker open, dumping her books into the bottom with a sound  _ thud _ . She quickly did a mental inventory, deciding which books she needed for today and tossing them into her messenger bag. While the previous week had been hell, Jade had never been more grateful for a school day to be over, although that was becoming more common each day that went by.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Andre standing in the stairwell on the other end of the hallway. Of course, she had passed by Andre in the halls every now and then, but nowadays, she normally didn’t pay much attention to him. But given the circumstances, today was an exception. Andre looked around for a moment until his eyes landed on Jade.

Oh she was so dead.

Luckily, the hallway was still crowded enough to give her enough time to plan ahead. Andre locked eyes with her for a brief moment before she forced herself to look away.

Fuck. There wasn’t much she could do. When Beck had approached her, she hadn’t been expecting it, he had caught her off guard. But somehow, it was so much worse when she could see it coming. Somehow, knowing that the crash was coming made bracing for impact so much harder.

_ Nope, I can’t do this, _ she thought, her heart beating fast enough to leap its way out of her chest despite the dead neutrality on her face. She had to get herself out of this, she couldn’t handle it.

The main question was, exactly what was enough to turn him away?

She considered running to the bathroom and bolting herself into a stall, but who was to say Andre wouldn’t just wait for her to come out? Also, hiding in the bathroom wouldn’t deter him for long enough, he would just try to talk to her tomorrow. No, she needed something with long term effects.

Turning, she spotted Beck entering on the other side of the hallway and an idea materialized in her head almost immediately. There wasn’t any time to think about whether or not this was the best idea, Andre was steadily approaching.

Well, she supposed this was it then.

Without taking even a second to reconsider (because there weren’t any seconds to take anymore) she ran up to Beck, launching herself into his arms like an arrow flying through the sky, her arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist. His face, which was first confused at the sight of her running directly towards him, had since changed into one of shock with a hint of amusement.

“Jade?” He asked disbelievingly, although his arms were still supporting her.

“I’m so sorry but I just need your help for two seconds.” She hissed.

“What?”   
  
She didn’t answer. She just kissed him.

God, she hoped this worked, otherwise it would’ve been for absolutely nothing.

And why the hell did kissing Beck Oliver feel so damn familiar?

Despite having no knowledge of her plan, he was kissing her back, and they must’ve been convincing enough too because she could hear murmurs and whoops of approval surrounding them.

When she broke away, he was looking up at her with a dazed look on his face, very much like the first time she had kissed him back in 7th grade.

“Thank you.” She said simply.

“You’re welcome?” He replied, although the confusion was still extremely apparent.

She jumped down from his hold and ran past him, leaving through the doors of the main exit. She raced through the parking lot, making a beeline for her car where Cat and Trina stood waiting for her.

“What gives? You told us not to be late but took forever to get here.” Trina pointed out irately as Cat shot her a warning look.

“You have  _ no _ idea what I just went through and I don’t feel like explaining a damn thing.” She said dryly, yanking open the car door and getting in.

Jade started up the car, fastening her seat belt. Through the windshield she saw Beck exit through the doors, searching through the parking lot. Well, shit. She sped out of the parking spot, desperate to leave.

* * *

Once she had arrived home, she yanked the door open, muttering a quick hello to her mom and holed herself in her room, where she was content to stay for the rest of eternity.

_ Holy shit, what happened today? _ She thought, staring up at her ceiling.

She nearly jumped out of her own skin as her phone chimed with a text from Cat.

_ ‘hey are u ok? me and trina are really really really really sorry :(‘ _

She sighed, putting her phone back down on her side table, she could get back to it later.

_ What a miserable existence, no?  _ She thought bitterly, yanking her school bag open and pulling out her books. Well, if she was on the path to misery, she could bury her plights in homework. She was pretty sure she was the only person alive to use homework as an escape, but she was also pretty sure she was the only person alive to have this issue.

About ten minutes into her pre-calc, there was a knock at the door.

“Jade, it’s for you!” Her brother yelled up the stairs.

Jesus christ, would Trina and Cat just  _ give her space already? _ She let out a groan, storming down the stairs.

“What  _ now _ ?” She snapped impatiently, taking the spot at the door.

“Sorry?” Rather than Cat or Trina like she had assumed, Beck Oliver stood in the doorway, his face just as confused as it had been when she had jumped into his arms less than an hour ago.

“What are you doing here?” She hissed, stepping out onto the porch and closing the door.

“Well, I kinda wanted to know what all that was? Earlier? You left so quickly I didn’t even get to ask…”

“Oh my god, I really don’t want to do this right now.” She muttered. She’d went through all of this to avoid having to explain things to Andre but it had come back to bite her in the ass and now she’d have to explain everything to Beck instead.

“Yeah, I don’t wanna do this either but I’m just  _ really _ confused right now.” He looked at her with a lost expression.  _ Fuck, _ now she kinda felt guilty.

“Fine. But I’m not having this conversation here.” She crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. Not when her mom and brother were right inside. There was absolutely no reason for this to interfere with her personal life and she would keep it that way.

“Okay. Where do you want to go then?”

“There’s a diner five minutes from here. Nobody from school ever goes there, we can talk there.”

“Sounds good.” He nodded, “I’ll drive.”

* * *

Driving with Beck was a weird experience. Part of her told her that there was no reason for her to feel nervous, it was Beck after all. The other part told her that it had been years, who knew what he thought of her? But after today, it was highly unlikely that he held her in any high regard.

“So?” He asked once they had arrived and piled into a booth, “What was that, today?”

“It’s… A long story.” She sighed.

“Luckily for you, I have a lot of time. But I do have to ask, did it have anything to do with the letter you wrote me?”   
  
“No.” She groaned, “Well, kinda. But not in the way you think!”

“So you throwing yourself into my arms and kissing me wasn’t because you’re madly in love with me?” He asked, a smug grin on his face.

“ _ No! _ You fucking  _ wish _ you could land me, Beck.” She rolled her eyes.

“Well from the letter it kinda seems like I  _ did _ land you for a moment, didn’t I?” He pointed out, poorly concealing his amusement. She felt her face contort into shock, her jaw dropping slightly.

“Quite self aggrandizing of you, no?” She crossed her arms, scoffing.

“I dunno, I don’t think it’s  _ ‘self aggrandizing’ _ to say that the person who wrote you a love letter had a thing for you…”

“Do you want to talk about earlier or not?” She snapped, “You were the one who wanted an explanation.”

“Explain away then…” He gestured towards her with an extended hand.

“Okay first of all. That letter? It was from middle school. None of it is relevant anymore. Are we clear?” She paused, staring at him expectantly for a sign to continue.

Once he had nodded in understanding she took in a deep breath and braced herself for impact once again. Admittedly, she knew there was a lot that needed to be explained here and none of it was going to be easy.

“I  _ had _ to kiss you or else- Well- I kissed you because- I needed to kiss you to get someone off of my back.” She somehow managed to sputter. It was a weak explanation, she sounded like a damn liar no matter how true it was.

“Sorry, I’m failing to see the connection here..?” He trailed off, not looking a bit less confused as before.

“I had to kiss you so that someone else would think that I liked you and not them.”

“Why would they think you liked them?” He cocked his head to the side. She could tell he didn’t believe her just yet.

“Because they also got a letter.”

“Wait, hold up.” He paused, holding a hand up, “I’m not the only one who got a letter?”

“No, no you're not. There were  _ four  _ letters actually. See- there you go again with the whole self aggrandizing shtick again, you sure I didn’t have it right the first time?”

“Okay, sorry! Was just a little surprised, that’s all!” He held his hands up in surrender.

A silence fell between them for a beat.

“Who was the other person?” He asked, suddenly looking back up at her.

“Why do you want to know?” She retorted, unwavering.

“You kissed me to get someone else off your back, the least you can do is tell me who. I mean, if I’m an accomplice I wanna know what for.”

“I’m not just gonna tell you, there’s a reason I went to all those lengths.”

“But if I don’t know, I’m going to go on for the rest of my life believing that you’re deeply and madly in love with me.” She knew he was messing with her, but still.

“If I tell you, you can’t tell a soul.” She threatened, leaning over the table in an attempt to be intimidating. He nodded solemnly, dropping the facade and reverting to the Beck she used to know. The Beck that she could trust.

“So, my letters got out. Cat and Trina found them and brought them to school. So, you got yours, but so did the other people and long story short, I kissed you to get Andre off my back.” She said cautiously, looking around to see if anyone else had heard.

He froze, unsure of what to say at first, “Wait. Andre as in Andre Harris?”   


“Yeah, ‘Andre as in Andre Harris’. And Tori just broke up with him, so you can see why I couldn’t have that conversation with him.” She concluded, leaning back into her seat.

“Hayley and I just broke up, what difference does that make?” He asked, twirling a straw in his hand.

Huh.

He made a good point. Actually, she wasn’t too sure why it  _ did _ make a difference in her head, but it did.

“I don’t know?” She shrugged, “Technically though,  _ you _ broke up with Hayley. Andre, on the other hand, got broken up with. Also, I wasn’t expecting you to come up to me, I saw Andre coming from miles away and I just- couldn’t do it.”

“Fair enough,” he ceded. “So, what are you gonna do when Andre eventually confronts you again? It’s only a matter of time.”

She groaned, burying her head in her hands, “I don’t know! I didn’t plan that far ahead! But seeing as we’re never speaking about this again, it shouldn’t matter to you. I’ll figure it out myself, Beck.”

He looked at her in an almost disbelieving way again.

“You never fail to amaze me,” he replied, shaking his head in amusement, his voice low.

“What? I said I’d figure it out!” She exclaimed defensively.

“No, I heard you.” He nodded, poorly concealing a laugh.

She leaned over, lightly shoving his shoulder, “Whatever. We’re done here and I wanna go home.” She slapped a twenty dollar bill on the table, getting out of the booth and heading towards the door, “I’m giving you five minutes or I’m gonna key your car!” She called over her shoulder.

* * *

“Thanks for the ride,” Jade muttered, as they pulled up in front of her house and started to open the car door.

“Wait! Can I ask you something?” Beck asked. Jade turned back to look at him. He tapped his fingers on the wheel in rapid succession, he took a bracing breath, as if he were working up courage.

“Go ahead,” she shrugged.

“What if we kept this going, yeah?” His tongue darted out for a quick second, “Like. What if we let people think we were actually a thing?”

Wait, what? Jade’s eyes widened for a moment, frozen in surprise.

“Everyone’s been blowing up my phone since we kissed in the hallway, especially Hayley.” He explained seeing the shock and confusion on her face. “And you’re looking for a long term solution to the whole Andre thing, you can just tell him that you’re in a relationship. It helps both of us out  _ and _ serves as an explanation for the whole jumping into my arms thing.”

“So what, I’m meant to insert myself in the Split Heard ‘Round the World? That’s signing up for a whole lot of drama that I don’t need to involve myself in.” She challenged, raising a brow.

“I get it. Hayley can be a lot. But please at least think about it, yeah?” He gave her a pleading look, “It’ll look weirder if everyone saw us practically make out in the hall only for us to ignore each other tomorrow.”

“And exactly why do you need to use me in your ploy to get back at your ex-girlfriend?” She retorted.

“Technically, you did use me first, just saying.” He reminded her, “Besides- like I said. It helps you too.”

He made a point. A very good point at that. But this was entailing a lot. And he was right, it gave her every single explanation and loophole she needed. Furthermore, she was getting way more out of it than he was.

“I’ll think about it.” She said carefully, giving him a look of consideration. “But if we  _ do  _ go through with this, it’ll be a lot to pull off. We have to make sure we’re gonna do it right, we can’t half ass this.”

“I know,” he nodded, “But I think it’s something we could both use right now.”

And that it was.

“Alright then, I’ll let you know when I decide.” She pushed the car door open and began to make her way up the driveway to her house.

_ Well then, _ she told herself once she heard his car pull away, _ do you have the balls to go through with something like this? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on tumblr - borrowedthemoonlite & leave a comment if u enjoyed :)


	3. Chapter 3

Jade stared up at the ceiling. It was way too late for her to still be mulling over the logistics of Beck’s plan. And to be honest, she was already invested and committed to it. Almost every single molecule in her body was in, but there was still part of her worried that they might not be able to pull it off, that other people would see right through them. That was the kicker, wasn’t it?  _ Other.  _ Now, it wasn’t like Jade cared about what  _ other _ people thought, she didn’t, never had, and now wasn’t the time she would start to. But they were doing this to convince other people, so she had to start caring even just a little bit.

They could pull this off, right? It wasn’t like it would be hard to pretend to be close to Beck, after all, they were close before, they could do it once again, even if it was in a different context. She went over the positives in her head once more.

  1. If it proved to be too hard they could orchestrate a break-up and that would be the end of it.  

  2. It provided a solution for every single problem that she needed to solve.  

  3. She would also be helping Beck too.  

  4. Hayley had always been terrible to Jade, would it be so terrible to dish it back for once?



Rolling over, she impulsively grabbed her phone. She hesitated, freezing just as she was about to put in her password. They could do this. It wasn’t like acting was a foreign concept to her or Beck.

There was no way he was still awake, but she still continued, unlocking her phone and opening up her messages. The last time she had texted Beck was September of Freshman Year when he’d sent her the pages for one of their history readings. It was a little weird that this would be the first text she’d sent him in two years, but nothing about this situation was normal in any way.

_ ‘I’m in.’ _ She typed out, pausing slightly, then pressing send before she could overthink. She stared at the screen, stunted by shock, oh god, she did it. She sent it. She quickly shut off her phone and dropped it onto her side table, breathing heavily.

A few moments later, her phone buzzed, the screen lighting up. She dove, grabbing it in a frenzy to read it.

_ ‘wait really? are you serious?’ _

Before she could reply, her phone buzzed once again with another text from Beck.

_ ‘we got this west, the world doesn’t know what’s about to hit them’ _

* * *

As soon as Jade arrived at school that morning, she ran off to find Beck. They had agreed on it last night, they were doing this. She opened the door to one of the empty, abandoned classrooms, hoping that this was the right one. Beck had sent her a text earlier, letting her know that he was in the old history room from when Mr. Vita was still teaching, but it had been a while and Jade wasn’t exactly sure which classroom was the right one. She slipped through the door, spotting Beck sitting on the windowsill.

“Hey, nice of you to show up.” He said, looking up and grinning at her.

“Yeah, hey.” She greeted, taking a seat on top of one of the desks, placing her feet on the seat, “So. Let’s figure this shit out.”

She hastily tore a piece of paper from a spare notebook, grabbed a pen from her bag, and looked at him expectantly.

“You really need to write this down?” He asked.

“Yes because if plans go south and you somehow try to throw me under the bus, I’ll have proof that we were in on it together.” She explained. 

“Oh come on that makes it way less fun.” He mused.

“First rule!” She moved on without acknowledging his comment, “We can’t tell anyone this was fake. Even after this whole thing is over. It sounds pathetic and also just  _ sad _ .”

“Agreed,” he nodded.

“Also, no more kissing.” She added, “It’s weird, no offense dude, but we’re not really close like that.”

“Are people really going to buy that we’re in a relationship if I’m not allowed to kiss you?” He asked.

“Well, if I’m going to be making out with people, it’s because it’s for real.” She scoffed.

“Fine, I can do that.” He replied, “But if we’re getting into technicalities,  _ you _ kissed me first.  _ I _ never initiated anything.”

She pursed her lips together, either in irritation or because she didn’t know what to say.

“But we need to come up with  _ something _ or else people’ll get suspicious,” Beck added.

“Okay, fine. You make a good point. You can put your hand in my back pocket,” She said. She remembered it from one of the movies Cat and Trina had forced her to watch. Jade had found it completely boring and zoned out about a half hour in, but that opening scene had stuck.

“Are you sure?” Beck asked, “Because if kissing is too close, I dunno if me touching your ass is any better?” She let out a sigh of frustration. They weren’t in a position to be poking holes into plans.

“Yeah, think about it. Nobody’s gonna question the couple who are practically all over each other. In our case, the handsier the better.” She gave him a  _ ‘come on’ _ look that she had mastered after years and years.

“Alright, as long you’re okay with it.” He shrugged, giving her a tentative look.

“Anything else?” She prompted, the sooner this contract or whatever was done with, the easier it would be to start the actual deception.

“Uh, okay, as long as we’re adding things- we need to go to prom together,” he said, tapping the paper.

Instinctively, she reached for the pen, about to jot it down, before pausing almost as quickly as she had begun.

“Prom?” She raised a brow, pen frozen above the paper, “That’s months away… Isn’t it April this year? Are we really planning that far ahead?”

“I like to be prepared,” Beck shrugged, “Besides. Hayley’s been obsessed with prom for forever. She’s been planning since  _ Freshman Year. _ Also, let’s say we  _ are  _ still doing this whole thing by then. Wouldn’t it be weird if we didn’t go together? I just feel like that would be cause for suspicion.”

She considered it briefly before nodding to herself and scribbling it under their last condition.

“Please don’t tell me that you’re going to try and out-plan Hayley though.” She shuddered, closing her eyes briefly, “I’ll go to prom with you, but the last thing I need is an over the top plan.”

“Nah, Hayley was on another level, I would never make you go through that. Besides, you know me, I’m not the ‘over the top’ type.”

“Okay then, if you promise I don’t have to do too much, I’m in.”

“That it?” She asked.

“Wait no, I just thought of something else.”

She raised a brow in acknowledgment, waiting for him to reply so she could write it down.

“I could write you notes. Every day.” He said softly.

She was briefly taken aback by the sudden…  _ softness _ to his voice.

“You would do that?” She asked, her voice suddenly quieted as well.

“Yeah. I would,” he replied, an earnest smile on his face. “Only if you want, though. I just thought it would be a nice... detail to add.”

“Sure.” She nodded, not breaking her stare.

He glanced towards the paper and she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be writing these down. She quickly shook her head, clearing up the haze and scribbling it under their last addendum.

“Also, you have to come with me to parties and stuff.” He added.

Oh so they were adding more things then?

“Fine. But you have to give me a ride to school.” It was a weak vantage point but she hadn’t been preparing for this many conditions.

“Don’t you drive Cat and Trina?” He asked. She wasn’t sure how he knew that, maybe he’d been keeping tabs on her since the friend group dispersed but it didn’t really matter. So she didn’t ask.

“Yeah, and it’s exhausting.” She rolled her eyes, “I need a break.”

“Okay, I guess I’m helping you ditch your friends then.” He shrugged, concealing an amused smirk.

“‘Preciate it, Oliver.” She said, once again writing their last two additions. “Right then, what’s our backstory?” She looked back up at him, an expectant look on her face.

“Easy,” he shrugs, “I got a love letter you wrote me back in middle school and it brought back some old feelings, so I asked you out.”

“What? Like  _ hell _ we’re telling people about the letter.” She scoffed, “I’d rather die. Besides, isn’t the whole point to cover this whole situation up? There’s no way we’re bringing up the letter, Beck.”

“Come on, everyone knows that the best lies are based on truth.” He insisted, trying to get hold of the pen.

She extended her hand far out of his reach, “This is non-negotiable.” She gave him a serious look.

He sighed, dropping his hand, “Okay, let’s come up with something better.”

She sighed in consideration, resting her head in her hand as she stared at a point in the distance out the window, “I was driving by your neighborhood,” Beck lived less than ten minutes from her house, it wasn’t like it was impossible, “and I noticed your car pulled over. You were sitting on the curb. You had gotten into an accident and had just called your insurance company. I felt bad so I stayed with you until a tow truck came and we just. Hit it off. And the rest is history.”

She concluded with a triumphant smirk, crossing her arms and giving him a smug look.

He let out a short scoff, giving her a disbelieving look, “Okay, first of all,  _ no one _ is going to believe that you waited with me, we all know that you’d drive off without a second thought, You ‘felt bad’? Jade, let’s be real, we both know that’s not happening. Second of all, my car is literally fine. Didn’t you literally just ask me to give you rides to school? People are never going to believe that when they see my car in the parking lot completely fine.”

She let out a huff of frustration, he was right, but she’d rather lie about his car than have to tell a single soul about the letters.

“Then what else can we say? It’s not like we hang out that much anymore.” The ‘anymore’ was unintentional, and it made her sound significantly harsher than she had meant to, but he didn’t seem to react too negatively.

“We could say that we ran into each other somewhere.” He suggested, “Like that diner near your house, I liked it there.”

“That’s it? We were just there at the same time?” She quirked a brow, they were going to need to get this backstory down pat, there was no room for plot holes. “We have to get the specifics in order.”

“Do you really think people are going to ask us that much?” He asked.

“ _ Yes _ . Are you forgetting how nosy Cat and Trina are? Plus, we both know that Hayley’s going to tear both of us apart when she finds out, the least we can do is have a consistent story.” 

“Okay. So, you’re at the diner,” Beck prompted.

“I’m at the diner.” She echoed. “And then you walk in.”

From there, they had it. He had come in to pick up a take out order his dad had called in and had seen her sitting at the counter. Their order wasn’t ready so he had decided to wait and sit on the stool next to hers. Even though it had been years since they had spoken to each other, he decided to strike up a conversation with her, and the rest was history from then.

Once they were certain that they both knew their story forwards and backwards, inside and out, Jade finally added her signature to the bottom of their agreement and passed it over to Beck, who signed it without even a hint of hesitation.

“Right, so we’re done?” He asked, checking his phone for the time, “I gotta go meet up with Ms. Peterson before homeroom.”

“We’re done.” She confirmed, grabbing her things and making her way to the door, turning right before either of them left, “Our plan is still good, right?”

“Yeah, see you later, West.” He grinned, ducking out of the door.

* * *

The first half of the day was easy enough, they went along as they normally did, barring a few exchanged nods in the hallways. Last night, they had decided that the best way to announce this newly-founded relationship was to not announce it at all. This was a rumor they needed spread fast, and the best way to do so was to make an entrance. So, in order to ensure maximum outreach, they decided lunch was their best option. Jade had always been one to make a statement and maybe this was the one to top them all.

“You ready?” She asked as she walked up next to Beck.

“Let’s go.” He nodded, taking a deep breath.

He slipped his hand into her back pocket as she leaned back, settling into the crook of his arm, the more natural and comfortable they looked, the better.

As they stepped into the cafeteria, they instantly garnered the attention of everyone in the vicinity.

_ They’re all staring, _ Jade thought, discreetly looking around. Good. It was working.

If this had been under any other circumstances, the sudden attention would have been unwanted, but this time, she reveled in it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a girl stop dead in her tracks, doing a double take as they entered her line of sight. Jade began to smirk but stopped herself short before it became too noticeable. The air of casualty and nonchalance was of the utmost importance.

Every so often, Beck would stop to say hi to people, and she would stand there right by his side, as if it was natural. It was like she had gone to sleep last night as Just Jade and had woken up this morning three months into a relationship. Surprisingly, it was proving to be easier than projected to be. But that just made their jobs easier.

She moved to take another step forward, but before she could, Beck pulled her back slightly, spinning her around. She blinked in surprise, the shock dissipating from her face as she composed herself.

Huh, nice touch, Oliver.

And while they hadn’t discussed it, she still trusted Beck’s judgement.

She raised a brow as she looked up at him, his hands settling on her waist. He dug into his back pocket, pulling out a folded up note. Apparently, he was a fast worker and when he said he would write her notes, he meant it.

Wordlessly, she plucked it from his hand, clutching it in her palm.

Beck leaned over to whisper in her ear, “We’re doing good, West.”

She turned, giving him a smugly triumphant look, “I know. We totally got this.” She said under her breath, ignoring the fact that everyone was still looking at them.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” he winked as he took a step back

“Later.” She echoed back, turning to find a table, catching a glimpse of Hayley’s expression. Although she hadn’t seen Hayley before now, Jade could tell that Hayley’s face had fallen the moment she had spotted Jade walk in with Beck. And while she hadn’t actually seen it fall, she  _ did _ see Hayley’s current face and Jade immediately knew they had succeeded.

She made direct eye contact with Hayley, who had clenched her jaw, intensely staring down Jade with what could only be described as a death glare that almost rivaled Jade’s. But  _ just _ almost. Jade met her glare unwaveringly, standing her ground. Sure, the point  _ was _ to make Hayley jealous, so yes, she was succeeding further. But Hayley didn’t know that, and really, what did Hayley have to be angry about?  _ She _ was the one who had cheated on Beck, neither him nor Jade were to blame here.  _ Oh sure, the  _ cheater’s  _ mad,  _ Jade thought bitterly, internally rolling her eyes.

Despite the fact that Jade was starting to get upset over Hayley’s logic, there was something  _ so _ vindicating about Hayley’s inability to even  _ pretend _ like she wasn’t mad. So, rather than rolling her eyes like she so badly wanted to, Jade smirked smugly, which only furthered the scowl on Hayley’s face, straightened her shoulders and walked off without a second thought.

“You got yourself a good one, West.” Gwen Pozanski-McDonald called as she approached Jade. She knew Gwen from Ceramics class, she sat two seats down and while they spoke every class, they had never been hallway or cafeteria people. But what do you know? Apparently a new found relationship was what awkward mid-friendships needed.

“Yeah, what can I say?” Jade shrugged triumphantly.

Before she could get much further through the room, she was pulled inside the cafeteria’s side room by Cat and Trina 

“Holy shit!” Trina let out an unbelieving cry.

“Is it true?!” Cat asked beaming.

Jade nodded, unable to think of something to say. Technically, no. It wasn’t. But if this was going to work, nobody could know, and both she and Beck had promised to keep it from their friends.

“Well, you’re welcome for that one,” Trina gave her a look that said just that.

“I knew it would work!” Cat sang.

_ Yeah, okay, _ Jade thought sarcastically.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” She replied, waving a dismissive hand.

“No,  _ not ‘whatever’ _ ,” Trina scoffed, in between air-quotes, “You’re dating  _ Beck Oliver, _ literally  _ who _ saw that coming?!”

“I’m shocked too,” Jade blurted out.

“I’m so happy for you, Jade!” Cat hugged her, jumping slightly where she stood.

“I didn’t think you had it in you,” Trina said incredulously, “But you  _ do _ know that Hayley’s going to come after you, right? Like there’s no way she’s gonna be okay with you dating her ex.”

“Oh I  _ know, _ ” Jade ran a hand through her hair exasperated, “You should’ve seen her two seconds ago, she looked like she wanted to kill me.”

“Who cares about that?” Cat asked, laughing, “You have a boyfriend and he is  _ fantastic.  _ Who cares about his ex?”   


‘Boyfriend.’ Jade blinked, taken aback for a moment.  _ Boyfriend. _ It was a weird word to hear describe Beck. But, he technically was, wasn’t he? Or at least, that’s what he was to literally everyone else who had seen them. 

“I mean, I don’t really have sympathy for cheaters.” Jade spat out bitterly, quickly moving past her slight mind-blank, “She can die mad about it.”

Trina opened her mouth to speak, but before she could start, the door to the side room swung open to reveal Beck, popping his head through the doorway.

“Hey,” he greeted, grinning as his eyes landed on Jade, “I got my food and you weren’t there when I got back, Gwen told me she saw you go in here. Just wanted to check on you, make sure you were okay.”   
  
Cat and Trina watched eagerly, their eyes flitting between Beck and Jade, watching their every interaction. God, Jade had never felt more surveillanced in her life. But it was a natural response, she couldn’t really blame them.

“No yeah, I’m fine.” She answered, nodding, “I’ll be out in like two seconds, I was just talking to these two.”

“Cool, see you in a bit then.” He nodded back out to the rest of the cafeteria, waving goodbye to Trina and Cat in addition.

Once the door was closed and they were left alone once again, Cat and Trina turned back to Jade. Cat let out a soft squeal as Trina’s jaw dropped.

“Look at that!” Cat exclaimed enthusiastically, “He’s already  _ completely _ gone on you, you can see it in his eyes.”

“Whatever, you guys are gonna make me late for lunch with my boyfriend, see you suckers later.” She called over her shoulder, making her way to the door. She hesitated only slightly before calling him her boyfriend but not enough to be noticeable.

“You  _ so _ owe us for this one!” Trina yelled.

Jade rolled her eyes as she re-entered the cafeteria. Once again, people were staring. She was used to people looking at her every now and then, but this time, there were significantly more people and they weren’t just looking, they were talking too.

“Everyone’s talking about you guys,” Gwen whispered excitedly as Jade passed her table.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Jade muttered, her eyes flitting around the room.

Maybe this was going to be easier than they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm... You mind if I recycle my OC's from the Bachelor fic? I'm gonna do it anyways because I'm simply Too Lazy to invest time and effort into other OC's. Anyways :) Pls leave a comment if you enjoyed, it helps me know if I'm doing something right, and if you wanna get in touch with me, find me on tumblr: https://borrowedthemoonlite.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so there you have it. If you're a fan of the movie, I'm telling you now, you're in for a fun time because I'm combining the best parts from the book and the movie for this. Sorry for the minimal Beck and Jade interaction, sometimes you have to establish the world around your characters before they can come together haha. I know that love letters seem OOC for Jade, and that's definitely valid but I wanted to put that plot point in so it's here to stay and I'll do my best to justify it (but to be fair, a lot of you read the Bachelor fic and if you can believe that Jade went on a reality show, you can believe this.) Hope you guys liked this one, I had fun writing it.
> 
> Catch me on Tumblr - borrowedthemoonlite.tumblr.com


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